2006 Lifetime Award Recipient
Columbia Steel
Columbia Steel: Constructing a Successful Team and a Successful Business
"In the world today there, there's plenty of technology, plenty of entrepreneurs, plenty of capital. What's in short supply is great teams..."
John Doerr, Venture Capitalist
When you speak to Don Fithian, Luis Theisen, and Bill Young from Columbia Steel, Inc. you hear a consistent theme about what has made them, and the business, a success since its founding in 1975: teamwork. The story of Columbia Steel is equal parts business savvy, commitment to excellence, and an unbelievably strong dedication to teamwork among its multiple owners that is rarely found in today's business world.
Launched by Don Fithian in 1975, Columbia Steel is a highly successful provider of structural steel including metal fabrication and erection. For many years Don had been the executive vice president of Central Industrial Engineering (CIE), where he worked with Luis Theisen and Bill Young. At a time when most people are beginning to think about retirement, Don considered venturing off to start his own business. With a Volkswagen pickup truck, welding machine and grinder, Don opened the doors of Columbia Steel and began to slowly grow the company. As word quickly spread about Columbia's ability to perform work that other firms couldn't and its focus on "making things happen," Don found himself at the helm of a growing a company.
In 1985, overwhelmed by the growth of Columbia Steel, Don called his friends and former colleagues at CIE, Luis Theisen and Bill Young, to join him at Columbia Steel. His timing couldn't have been better - at that same time both Luis and Bill had already begun to discuss leaving CIE to form their own company. As Bill Young noted "Luis and I were thinking about opening our own steel business, but Don already had a going concern and we figured our chances of success would be better if we teamed up with him. Don was the most honest person I knew and we had all worked together before - I was confident we could make it work." With Luis and Bill on board, Columbia Steel now had a team of owners and managers that could help take the company to the next level.
The trio quickly decided on their roles and responsibilities in the business. With Don's strength in the overall business acumen, Luis's operations and plant management experience in the steel industry, and Bill's marketing and sales experience, they had a synergy of skills and a mutual respect for each other that was powerful combination for the business. All three are quick to point out the key to making it work was shared values, honesty, open communication and an undying belief that they could only be successful as a team. In fact, as each member of the team points out, in more than 20 years working together at Columbia Steel they never had one argument!
Armed with a cohesive leadership team, Columbia Steel has achieved great success and grown dramatically over the years. Occupying 14 1/2 acres in Rialto, the company has projects that include schools, office buildings, hospitals, parking structures, movie theatres, retail shops and private homes. A reflection of its owners, Columbia Steel is widely known in the field for its high quality work, innovation, and reputation as a company that delivers on its promises. As Luis notes, "we lead by example and our values and honesty are critical to our success." In fact, the company's commitment to quality and satisfying its customers is legendary. For example, at its own expense, Columbia Steel corrected a major mistake on a large construction job (even though the mistake was not theirs). Rather than "fight over who was right and who was wrong, we just went ahead and fixed it for the customer," notes Don. This has led them to be highly sought after by companies that want high quality work and integrity. As a long time observer of the company noted "their performance is phenomenal - they manage jobs on time and perform like no one else in the business."
With phenomenal growth and a bright future, Don, Luis, and Bill tackled head on the issue of how to make the business sustainable past their lifetimes. Since they had always viewed Columbia Steel as a "family" business with a large number of employees working with them and sharing in the profits for more than 20 years, the three owners felt that the best way for them to keep the business going was to implement an employee stock ownership program (ESOP) that would transfer ownership to the company's employees. This plan would help the overall "team" at Columbia become owners and help the business continue on long after Don, Luis, and Bill's retirement. In the unique fashion that seems to reflect how they approach everything related to the business, Don. Luis, and Bill decided that the ESOP would not have to buy them out all at once (which would have meant incurring a substantial amount of long term debt for the business) but would occur over a period of years, allowing the business to continue to reinvest the majority of its earnings in growth for the future.
It has often been said that a high performing team of leaders may be the single most distinguishing feature of a successful company. Columbia Steel is a shining example - from a small startup it has emerged as an industry leader that not only reflects the values of its owners but is an outstanding role model for all those who hope to own and run successful companies!